She shakes her head slightly.
“No.” Her fingers tighten against my jaw. “You went back for Gabriel.”
“He’s your brother.”
“You could’ve died.”
The answer leaves me instantly.
“So could you.”
Her breath catches.
There it is again.
That look.
The one that says she’s trying not to feel something too big all at once.
Too late.
I’m already gone.
Completely.
Wu tried to turn love into programming.
Into weakness.
Into manipulation.
But sitting here in the mud and rain with Hannah touching me like I matter?
I’ve never felt anything more real in my life.
Thunder rolls across the sky overhead.
Hannah flinches instinctively.
Tiny movement.
But I notice.
Of course I notice.
A memory flashes across her face suddenly.
Children huddled together during storms.
Hannah singing softly in the dark.
Her eyes fill instantly.
“Oh God…”
She breaks.
Not loudly.
